A Shinigami's servant
by Megaphone.Kills.You
Summary: <html><head></head>A tragic car crash costs three teenagers their lives. The survivors don't want to accept that. Unbeknownst to them, it's all part of a Shinigami's plan and he offers them to bring back the dead. Without thinking of the consequences, they accept. Bad idea.</html>
1. Prolog

**A Shinigami's servant**

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**Prolog**

_"Hello, this is Mizuki Takano, reporting live from the scene of accident. Today at around 16: 25 three cars crashed. The condition of four of the teenagers involved in the accident is still critical and the paramedics fear that one of them might not survive the night at the hospital. _

_So far, two corpses were recovered from the car wrecks. Their identities of the male bodies were already confirmed by the police as Sasuke U. (17) and Suigetsu H (17). _

_So far, the cause of the accident is unknown._

_You'll be informed once more information is available. _

_This was Mizuki Takano for you, reporting live from the scene of the accident. Have a nice day."_

_"Thank you, Miss Takano.  
>And now moving on to the weather. It's a beautiful day, it's warm outside and the sky is cloudless! The perfect weather to make a trip to Konoha Bay, don't you think so? Just don't drive there, okay?" <em>

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><p><em>"This is Mizuki Takano with a special announcement. We were just informed that the paramedics' fear concerning the condition of one of the victims from yesterday's car crash was confirmed. His wounds reopened while no one was around and he bled to death. All resuscitation attempts came too late for Naruto U. (16).With that, the death count rose up to three people. The police are now investigating against the hospital."<em>

_"That sounds terrible! Is known yet what caused the accident?"_

_"It seems like the brakes of one of the cars failed when its driver tried to stop their vehicle and crashed into another car. The driver behind them couldn't hit the brakes in time and thus drove into the wreckages."_

_"What about the survivors?"_

_"That's the good news. The doctors announced that their lives are now out of danger and that none of their injuries will remain. It almost seems like a miracle! They'll be able to leave the hospital and continue their lives without any physical handicaps."_

_"Indeed, a miracle! Especially after what happened to the unfortunate others. _

_After this incident, discussions flared up again about whether or not teenagers should be allowed to drive..."_

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><p>The white and the light blinded her, everything was too bright, and so she had to close her eyes once again.<p>

When she tried to reopen them, she shielded them from the light with her arms and slowly raised her head from the pillow.

Someone gasped, a shadow fell over her and her head was gently pressed down again. The shadow said something about her having a head injury, she shouldn't move it. It couldn't be that bad, she tried to argue, but the shadow, a doctor of course, wouldn't listen and left the room again. The sound of the door closing intensified the dull ache in her head and she wondered if he had done that on purpose.

By now, her eyes had adjusted to the too bright environment and she blinked away a tear in her eye. Her forearms were covered with bruises and small cuts, she realized, and carefully pressed down on one of the blue-purple monstrosities. As predicted, it sent a small wave of pain through her arm. She wasn't a masochist, it was to shake off the strange, inappropriate sleepiness. They probably numbed her with painkillers.

It didn't work, but she didn't really have the time to wait, she'd already lost enough time lying motionless in her hospital bed, reliving the experience and crying and trying to clear her head.

Her eyes searched the room for anything helpful and the corners of her lips lifted as she spotted the small TV. At least, she believed the rectangular box to be one. Her glasses had been shattered and someone had probably already disposed of them, and without them, her sight was too blurry to be completely sure. The drugs in her system didn't help.

From an earlier hospital experience, she knew that there was a remote somewhere. The question was, where?

Standing up and looking for it was not an option.

A small clicking noise betrayed someone approaching and a few seconds later, the door was ripped open by two blurry figures. One of them had dark pink hair and immediately rushed to her side, so the girl knew that this was her mother soaking her blankets.

The other figure pulled her away and the sobs, previously muffled by the fabric, grew louder.

"Karin, Karin my dear! I-I...! I was-was so—worried! I should—n't have l-let you go th—there!"

Karin frowned slightly. Her mother was only in the room for what, a minute, and already blamed it all on herself again?

"Your daughter is still recovering, so please keep it down", the doctor scolded and finally, the noise subsided.

"I'm just happy that—that you survived..."

The woman straightened up and her daughter knew that she was brushing her hair behind her ear to make a professional impression. That was the last thing she saw, before sleep claimed her again.

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><p>A week later, Karin felt physically a lot better, but she was still dying inside. Everyone was keeping information from her. For her sake, they said. A policeman had asked her what had happened and she'd told him what he needed, hoping for answers as some sort of reward for her help, but her questions went ignored. She was sure she could take the information, no matter what had happened. Nothing could be worse than this. She could take it.<p>

A new pair of glasses was resting on the bridge of her nose, the pain in her head was reduced nothing more than a small nuisance and as long as she didn't move her body, she could almost pretend she was fine.

Her mother visited again and stood next to her bed, looking down on her with that expression that Karin hated. It was this pitying expression, an expression she would have to become accustomed to.

"Dear, let it rest for now. You're okay, and that's all that matters right now" the red-haired woman tried to sooth her, but she wouldn't stop asking.

"Mom, I need to know! I can't just pretend it didn't happen, unlike you!"

"Don't you maybe want to talk to the therapist? You know, you can always talk to-"

Karin took a deep breath and ignored the stabbing pain in her chest that it caused and cut her off. "I don't want to talk to some f*cking therapist! I'm fine. Tell me at least who is involved!"

A sigh. Her mother gave up. Admitting defeat. She pulled out something from her oh so expensive bag and handed it over.

It turned out to be a magazine from a day after the accident. Repressing the memories that threatened to resurface as she read the headline, she quickly read the article, absorbing as much information as her brain allowed.

By the end of it, everything went black.

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><p>In another room in the hospital, a girl the same age as Karin that went by the name Sakura Haruno wasn't doing any better. And also Hinata Hyuga lay on her bed, crying her heart out.<p>

The three of them had escaped the clutches of death just barely, but right now, they wished they were dead.

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><p><strong>I really, really, really need to write it down! This prologue hasn't revealed that much yet, but it'll get better in the next chapter.<br>This story is based on a really freaky dream I had, and since in this dream the people involved were Naruto-characters, my head planned the whole story with their personalities, meaning it didn't work out when I tried to write it with my own characters. Maybe one day, when my writing skills have improved and everything, I will write a story like that with my own characters. The plot will be different of course, but the main idea will remain.  
>For now, this will probably be my priority, so I <em>could<em> promise the first real chapter to come out soon...**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of this so far and if I made any grave mistakes!**


	2. Don't trust strangers

**Chapter 1: Don't trust strangers**

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The first day of school was pure and utter torture.

She had known it would be.

Staring, everyone was staring at her.

She wasn't used to all this attention, this unwanted attention and she blushed furiously.

Usually, no one would've noticed her and she was happy with that.

If only she could walk faster, if only time went by faster, but her legs felt so heavy today, so she could only move slowly, drawing more attention to her and people asked her if her bag wasn't to heavy, if they should help her.

"No, I'm—I-I'm...fine" she replied every time and tears burnt in her eyes. _She_ wasn't the one who needed help, she wasn't the one everyone should be worrying about. _She_ was alive and healthy, wasn't she? _Alive_.

As predicted, she arrived too late to class for the first time in her life, yet instead of giving her a lecture, the teacher simply smiled pitying at her and continued with his instructions. Would it be like that in every class? Probably. Maybe.

With her pearly white eyes directed at the blackboard, face blank and mind far away, Hinata Hyuuga survived the first day of school.

She heard them whisper things about her as she drags herself to the exit of the school building. How she survived _it_. Why couldn't they talk about something else? Why not? She wanted to forget, FORGET.

Were Sakura and Karin having those problems too? Were they so uncomfortable with the questions too? Probably not, Hinata thought and sighed crestfallen. They were stronger, stronger than her at least.

More staring as she got into the car her father had sent for her and she held her head down and allowed her long hair to hide her face from view.

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><p>Sakura Haruno closed the door and leaned exhausted against the wooden surface and slid to the ground. She had reached her limits. It was hard to keep up the cheerful attitude at school and fooling the others into believing she was fine, she was over the accident, that she moved on.<p>

Not affected, not affected, not affected.

Yeah, right. As if.

She angrily wiped away the tears that desperately wanted to escape her eyes at the thoughts and she picked herself off the floor. She wouldn't cry, not again. She'd done that enough lately. And the others hadn't cried today too.

"Sakura-chan, you're home?" her mother called from the kitchen and somewhere upstairs a boy cheered and practically fell down the stairs and into the arms of his big sister. With a genuine smile, she hugged the child and ruffled his dark pink hair. "Hi, Hayato. Hm, do you smell that? I think Mom is cooking. Come on, why don't we help her?" She took his smaller hand in hers and led the excited Hayato to the kitchen.

This was one of the times she was thankful for having a younger brother, because he was simply excellent at distracting her.

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><p>"Mom, I'm home" Karin called and when no one answered, she rolled her eyes, tossed her bag carelessly into a corner and took of her shoes.<br>Damn, those heels were killing her.

Now, into the kitchen.

The fridge was empty.

Again.

She needed to go grocery shopping today.

Hm. A cup of instant noodle soup stood there on the countertop. Alright. That would do.

The water wasn't boiling yet. Stupid ramen.

Finally.

Not wasting too much time with eating, going up to her room.

She'd forgotten her bag.

She cursed and got it.

Homework.

"Kaaaarin, dear~ Sorry, but we needed to discuss something at work and everything! I hope there was still something left from yesterday? Karin? Where are youuu?"

Stupid woman. "Upstairs" the girl shouted back.

She bit her tongue. Now that woman would come and talk about her life. Like always.

Groaning in annoyance.

"I heard that, young woman! So, how was school? Wasn't it too exhausting? I mean, the doctors said that maybe you should take it easy for a little more—"

"Mom, I'm fine. School was like always. You act as if I'm a little kid."

Quickly locking the door before her mother had a chance to invade her room.

Save.

At first, she'd probably throw a fit about that, but the redhead didn't care, since the screaming would stop eventually and she'd have some peace and quiet again.

An hour later, the teen was done with her school work and her oh so loveable mother was probably out and consoling her friends and getting drunk and she'd forget about buying some food.

Now that there was nothing 'important' to do anymore, Karin didn't know how to keep herself occupied anymore. Lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling was an option, alright, but that wouldn't be entertaining. There was only shit on TV at that time of the day, so that was out of the question. Meeting friends? Nah, Juugo was working at this pet shop and she hated going there.

Urgh. How annoying.

Annoying...that reminded her of...

Armed with a bag of potato chips and the remote, she plopped down on the couch and turn on the television, because that was still better than the alternative.

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><p>With a squeal, Hayato flung himself at Sakura and giggled at her surprised expression. "Haha, you didn't expect that, huh?" "Ugh, Ha—ya—get—off-! Heavy-!" the pink-haired girl wheezed out and gently let him down to the ground and he removed his arms from her neck. Hayato pouted for a moment, before his expression turned into one of sheer horror. "Hm, while you're already here...why don't you brush your teeth?" his sister said sweetly.<p>

When she was sure he was gone, she let out a deep breath and started combing through her short, pink hair. Why was this kid so hyperactive at night?

When she was done getting ready for sleep, she dived under the covers, screwed her eyes shut and blocked out any thoughts but SLEEP.

And sleep she did.

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><p>What a tiring and miserable day. After school, the whole torture had simply continued. Hinata closed her eyes and wished she were invisible. Her last thought before falling asleep was 'I will grow my fringe longer, no matter if someone protests. No one would be able to see my eyes. Maybe then I'll feel better.'<p>

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><p>Her mother was still not home, although work started early for her. "Typical for mom" Karin laughed dryly. "Probably had a drink or two too much." She wrapped the blankets a little tighter around her and tried to stay awake until the head of the family would return.<p>

As the green bear in the army uniform on the TV screen got run over by a transporter, she could no longer keep eyes open.

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><p>"What?"<p>

"I said we ran out of white T-shirts, Haruno."

She gasps. "Oh my god, no! How did that happen?"

"We don't know" replies the old man with the top hat and curled mustache and shakes his head. His eyes are closed and one can tell that he is under a lot of pressure. Sakura swallows heavy at that revelation. No more white T-shirts...that is a catastrophe!

"And as you know, the only ones in this world who still have them are the zombies, down in the canalization. I called you here to my office because I want YOU, our top kunoichi, to sneak into their store and steal the shirts. I'm counting on you."

This came so suddenly...yet the female isn't going to let her boss down. After all, taking the mission or not is not her decision. There is no way she could refuse. The world depends on this! She salutes and says "Yes sir! I shall return soon!"

And with that, she storms out of the room, down the corridor and onto the streets. A few pedestrians look at her strangely, but she ignores them as she runs to harbor where her good friend Ino waits for her, wearing a striped shirt and black pants and carrying a baguette under her arm. "Hurry up, Ino! We have to get down to the zombies!" Sakura yells from afar and immediately, the blonde jumps into her small gondola and is ready to take off to the sewers.

Sakura follows and soon, they are at the entry to the underworld, where a newly turned zombie already awaits them. Its skin is still a little rosy, not yet completely grey or green, and the skull of the poor person shows here and there where the skin already rotted away. And it's wearing a white T-shirt, the white so clean and pure, so devoid of dirt that it almost blinds them.

"We're on the right track Sakura! They have the T-shirts!" Ino whispers triumphantly and almost hits Sakura against the head with her paddle.

The water carries the two and their boat through the entrance to the sewers and the girls shiver.

On their way, they encounter more living corpses, their slowly decaying bodies floating on the water surface and their eyes never leaving them.

"So disgusting!" wails the blond-haired girl quietly and bites baguette. If her friend wasn't on a mission right now, she'd agree. Sadly, this is exactly the case and so Sakura tries to remain calm and maintain her professional demeanor. She is a kunoichi for god's sake!

Finally, they spot the door that leads to the secret warehouse where the zombies hide their T-shirts."Ino, wait for me, will you? It won't take long, I promise!" Ino seems unconvinced. After a while, she shrugs and drawls "Al-right. As long as I have something to eat...do whatever you have to do, forehead."

With her ninja skills, the kunoichi succeeds in invading the storage and gapes when she discovers that the large room is in fact empty.

Suddenly, someone calls "Hey, you there!" She looks up and there, sitting on a girder sits a human wearing a long cloak with a high collar, and with dark red hair that falls over one of his eyes. From what she sees, he has a thin face and is pretty skinny and strange black...things stick out of his back.

"Do you, by any chance, know where the white T-shirts are?" she asks the stranger who kind of creeps her out. He answers "No, I don't. But I want to talk to you, Sakura Haruno."

'How does he...?'

The red-haired man jumps down, straightens up and turns on the light. Instantly everything is engulfed in an eerie glow. On her right and on her left, two persons appear, they too glowing so that the Haruno can't make out their faces.

"What is this place?" one figure wonders. "And who's that freak over there?"

"Yeah, I would like to know that too!" Sakura agrees. Freak is a quite adequate description for that guy. His one eye is grey and there are those strange circles in his eyes.

"My name is Nagato" he introduces himself and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "I'm not a freak. I'm a Shinigami."

The person on Sakura's right lets out a shriek and she herself can't deny that this Nagato scares her. The other person (who is apparently female) doesn't seem intimidated. "Oh yeah? Are you here to tell us when we die, or what? Are you an angel or a god of death, Nagato?"

Said redhead shakes his head and glares at the girl. "I am, in fact, a newly turned _God_ of Death. And I would appreciate it if you could keep quiet."

He clears his throat and glances at the three of them. "Your friends died lately, huh?"

"Hell yeah! And that was your fault, wasn't it!" Sakura snaps and clenches her fists. Her two best friends had been killed during a fight with the living dead. She knows it was her carelessness that had led to their deaths, but damn, she needed someone else to blame! Even if it is not very wise to provoke a god.

To her surprise, he only sighs annoyed and otherwise ignores her comment. "I have a...proposal for you. Do you miss your friends?"

They nod.

"Do you want them back?"

Another nod.

"Would you do anything, really anything, to bring them back? No matter what the consequences are?"

They halt for a moment. What is Nagato implying? Is he...Does he want to make their wish come true?

"Anything. I'd do anything" the female on the right declares without any signs of doubt or fear in her voice. Encouraged by that, Sakura too accepts. Only the girl on the left who hasn't said anything so far hesitates. "A-Al-Alright..." she finally manages to say and the pink-haired ninja can hear the smile in her voice.

The Shinigami smiles as well and lets out a loud sigh of relieve. 'How strange...'

"This is perfect. I almost thought you would refuse...then I would have forced you to agree, but still, I think we're all happier that you accepted on your own free will, no?"

"So now you will bring them back?"

"Oh, I wonder, what do I gain from this? You have to do something for me first, before I can do that."

The kunoichi screams "What? Why haven't you told us before?"

"I did" Nagato states. "You said that you would do anything. It's too late to refuse now."

Biting her lip, Sakura glares at the man and curses her carelessness again.

"And what do we have to do?" she questions, her voice trembling pathetically. Nagato replies "I will tell you later."

After that, everything is silent.

"And what about the zombies?"

The god of death blinks in confusion and tilts his head to the side. "Zombies...?" he responds.

"Exactly, the zombies. They probably noticed us by now and I doubt they are happy that we tried to steal their T-shirts" the girl on her right elaborates. Just as she finishes the sentence, the door is ripped open and hundreds of corpses flood into the warehouse. Their screams are drowned out by the moaning of the dead.

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><p>She awoke screaming.<p>

What the hell was that? She didn't remember everything, only small bits and pieces, but the memory of the empty eyes and the festering bodies is burnt into her brain.

"It was only a dream, a silly, silly dream, Sakura..." she tried to calm herself down.

After this, she was unable to sleep and as she got out of bed, the small red scar on her right forearm caught her attention. It hadn't been there before.

Under further inspection, she noticed that it looked a little like the Kanji for 'life' or 'birth' and only seconds after that discovery laughed at herself. A scar that looked like a Kanji? That was probably only sleep deprivation messing with her head.

Still, she had a bad feeling about this.

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><p><strong>Better than the prolog, I think. Sorry that the dream was so long, but I wanted to make this more realistic. (Another thing in this story that is based on one of my dreams...^^;) So...it'd be really cool if you wrote a review, I really appreciate it, no matter if it's only a short one *-*<strong>

**For anyone who wondered, Karin didn't go shopping because her mother was out and there was the chance that her mother actually did do the shopping and then they'd have more food than they need or fits in the fridge and then Karin's mother would be angry and blah.**


	3. Don't forget your promises

**Chapter 2: Don't forget your promises**

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By the time she dragged her body through the main entrance of the school, it had become a habit of hers to scratch over the small scar. When she woke up that morning she had noticed it right away and she _hated _scars or wounds.

She must've injured herself while she was lying asleep on the couch, though she was not sure how that was even possible. This was not a normal scratch; it was a scar, like a tattoo almost. She glared at the blemish with disgust and pulled the bracelet she wore down again to cover it. Yeah. She'd cover it. No need for anyone to see it.

Juugo already waited for her at her locker and judging by his expression he was in a no better mood than her. This slightly unnerved her; always when people around her poured out their hearts to her, she didn't know what to do. She couldn't handle other people's problems all that well, another obnoxious trait she had inherited from her mother. Before she could turn around and hide however, he approached her with that sad look in his eyes that she hated so much.

The male stopped in front of her, sighed and proceeded to stare at his feet as if they were the only thing he had left. After some time of awkward silence he muttered "They fired me."

Ouch. Juugo loved animals and thus loved his part-time job at the local pet shop. Not to mention that it was quite hard for him to get a job considering his...condition. Being fired after such a long time must've been devastating for him. The girl's expression turned sour since she was pretty sure she knew why it happened.

"You know, it's just that...it just happened. I couldn't control it and now that they're..." he looked away from her and left his sentence unfinished "this was already the third time ever since the car crash."

With a sigh, he slung his bag over his shoulder and she stayed behind and watched his retreating back. So he too still suffered from the after-effects of the accident even though he hadn't even been there to witness it.

Scar momentarily forgotten she gathered her things and practically rushed to class, determined to ignore everyone else around her.

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><p>Right now she hated her father.<p>

Well, maybe she didn't hate him but at least she was very, very angry at him for making her go through this torture once again.

Unhappily she tried to press herself deeper into the seat and held her head down as the school building came into view even though it did not ease her discomfort. Her father insisted that she would be driven to school from now on.

Every day.

He hadn't listened to her timid protests and reasoned that this way her security wouldn't be endangered but _ensured_ because he picked a more than capable driver. Her silly fear of being inside or even near vehicles was laughable and this way she would realize that.

The low sound of the engine that once had calmed her made her heart beat faster now and she wanted nothing more than rip the door open and to walk by herself yet it would be more than stupid to jump out of the moving vehicle onto the street.

Upon arriving she quickly took her bag and blocked out the shouts that came from her cousin and her younger sister who had accompanied her.

She was so occupied with not registering the whispers and questions that she also didn't look where she was going and ran into someone. Books clattered to the ground and she quickly kneeled down, hastily collecting the books and apologizing quietly. She truly hoped neither Hanabi nor Neji had witnessed this small accident and would report this to her father.

"Here, let me help you, you lost some things as well" a female voice sounded and before Hinata could say anything, the other girl too lowered her body to her level and picked up a book. She recognized the pink hair immediately and her eyes watered.

"Sakura?" she asked shyly and Sakura's apple green eyes met her milky white ones. "Oh, Hinata, it's you!" she answered, surprised, and both females sat there in silence.

Sakura and Hinata had never spoken to each other that often before, only on few occasions and it would've probably stayed that way if one day Hinata hadn't forgot her umbrella at home on a at first seemingly sunny day and so she needed a ride.

She didn't have any close friends and so she brought up the courage to ask the Haruno to drive her home, who accepted. During the ride, the shy girl eventually warmed up to Sakura and the two laughed together until another car suddenly slammed into theirs and everything went black. After this, they hadn't seen each other again. Up until now.

Mumbling another apology she grabbed her own things, quickly shoved the pink-haired classmate's into her arms and disappeared in the crowd of students. Hinata wasn't quite ready for a confrontation just yet. She kept telling herself that she could look the other girl in the eyes in a week. Or two. Or three.  
>Someday.<br>Yes, someday sounded like something she could manage.

When class started, the droning of the teacher took her mind off of the encounter and she quickly wrote down her notes when her classmate nudged her in the shoulder. To make it seem like she was still following the lesson, she held her head down and continued to move her hand but she whispered "What is it, Kiba-kun?" Kiba and she had been friends ever since they were twelve and often sat next to each other, so she thought that maybe he just hadn't understood something and now asked her to explain it to him like he did quite often. The boy remained silent for a couple of seconds, then pointed out "Hinata, since when do you have that scar?"

Her pen slid from her grasp and she frantically searched her forearm. There it was, a small red taunting scar. Her breath hitched and she racked her brain, trying to remember where she'd gotten it. Her discomfort grew as she realized that she couldn't.

Kiba must've sensed her panicking because he tried to calm her down rather loudly.

"Kiba Inuzuka!" Said student flinched "This is perhaps the fifth time you've interrupted my lesson in the last fifteen minutes. I'm fed up with you misbehaving. Get out of my class room. Now!" Her milky-white eyes followed him as he grudgingly left, complaining about unfair teachers. It was her fault one of the only persons she considered a friend was in trouble and she clenched her fists, angry with herself for once again being selfish and a burden.

The rest of the day was spent with trying to avoid Karin Kinami, Sakura Haruno and Kiba Inuzuka and with finding a way to cover up the scar.

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><p>As Sakura sat on the bus like she did every other day, she thought back to the sudden encounter with Hinata. The pink-haired girl had tried to find her afterwards but it seemed as if she'd disappeared without a trace. They only had one class together and even then, the Hyuuga had somehow managed to escape her. It was frustrating Sakura to no end.<p>

When Hinata had knelt down to gather up her things, something on her arm had caught her attention and she'd only wanted to know if maybe the younger girl knew where it came from. Because when she too had crouched down, she'd recognized it.

The Haruno had covered her wound with a band-aid because it did unnerve her so she was positive Hinata would've put up a great effort to make it seem like she didn't have one. So did she not discover it or did she sustain it on her way to school? Sakura was curious.

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><p>After that incident, the two didn't run into each other again and it all started to be forgotten. Sakura kept having weird dreams that she brushed off as nothing but a left-over. Her life had become normal again, as normal as it could be with that giant void in her heart and she was glad that she no longer had to answer awkward questions. She could laugh again and Ino made sure to cheer her up whenever she felt down. Even the scar seemed to fade with every day that passed.<p>

Two weeks of calm, two weeks of blissful quiet.

Hayato was rambling away about something he did at school, losing himself in his story so that in the end he was telling a completely different story than intended. Sakura kindly pointed that out and her brother blushed. "I was just really getting into the story and then it just happened, you have to believe me!" he whined and she leaned over and pressed a kiss on his forehead. Hayato beamed.

"It's alright, I'm used to it by now" she teased and walked into the bathroom because it was getting late and she didn't feel like staying up late today. Besides, it was like with every day she was getting weaker and she blamed it on the dreams. In the morning she could never remember what they'd been about but she did know that it always ended with her dying.

As she brushed her hair, the calls of her sibling reached her ears and a second later he came bouncing into the small room. "Can I sleep in your bed tonight? Please? Please?" he pleaded, green eyes glancing hopefully up to her. For some reason, Hayato reacted almost allergic to sleeping alone. "Don't always pamper him, Sakura!" her mother scolded as she passed by, but she allowed him to sleep with her anyway.

"But only for tonight" she reminded him, but he wasn't even listening anymore, too excited about not being alone tonight.

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><p>"You again!" Karin skids to a halt and glares at the boy occupying the swing next to hers. He seems vaguely familiar and she feels like he's been following her around.<p>

Nagato he says is his name and she believes him. They sit there in silence and she starts swinging after a while, a little irritated with the boy who won't talk to her. "What are you waiting for?" she calls out. The reply isn't immediate, but she has time.

He raises his head to look at her, his dark red hair falling into his eyes, shielding one from view; it's not like they're that pleasant to look at in the first place so she doesn't mind. She feels as if the gaze of his grey eye with the almost hypnotic rings inside of them burn into her head.

"They're not here yet" he says and shrugs. She finds it weird and scoffs; if he's only waiting for someone, then why is he sitting there, doing nothing, instead of enjoying himself? She flies higher and higher and he remains rooted to the spot, completely still.

She turns her head to the side and she sees two girls coming towards the swings. The sun is shining so brightly that it blinds her and she can't make out their faces.

"Ah, there you are!" exclaims Nagato and stands up. "I was already wondering if you've forgotten our deal." Karin tilts her head slightly and eyes the other girls curiously until the boy calls her name. "Karin, the same goes for you." Oh yeah, the deal. How could she forget about that?

"Hey, Shinigami-boy, are you going to tell us now what we have to do for you?" she wants to know and he gives her one of his rather creepy smiles. His way of ignoring her, taunting her reminds her very, very much of someone and the sudden urge to punch him overcomes her.

He asks "So, did you prepare for what's to come?" and one of her companions lets out a hallow laugh. "How are we supposed to do so if you won't even tell you what the HELL we have to do?" "Ah, yes, maybe I should've told you at least something" he admits, but he still doesn't reveal anything. That guy really is starting to get on her nerves. The other girl shyly questions "H-How much time did you give us to prepare?" "Thirteen days. Your deadline's due. No more procrastinating, I fear."

In the exact same moment, Karin lets go of the chains of the swing set out of shock; for a second she's floating, the next she crashes to the ground. She hits her comrades, knocking them over and a painful sensation spreads through her forehead. The impact must've shattered her skull, she muses and maybe she'll die now.

Darkness drowns her and she feels warm and she knows that she's truly dead now.

For a few moments, she embraces the quiet, then a sudden, blinding light engulfes her. She struggles against it, because she feels that once she goes there, returning won't be possible. She still loses the fight.

* * *

><p>The last images lingered in her mind as she awoke to an obnoxiously annoying sound.<p>

Bleep, bleep, bleep.

It was like a Déjà vu and to complete the impression, a dull pain echoed inside her head. She screwed her eyes close and tried to remember why this seemed so familiar to her, which proved to be close to impossible, because her head was spinning.

Her limps were numb and lying useless at her side, hands clutching the surprisingly thin sheets. Something was wrong, she figured and she also realized she would have to open her eyes to find out what. But that could wait. Right now she enjoyed the stage somewhere between consciousness and sleep greatly. School and her mother sure were draining her, so who could blame her for savoring every single moment of peace.

She made a low sound of approval and took a deep breath before relaxing completely. She would be late for class but all her worries seemed to be so far away...

She faded in and out of consciousness, registering little what was going on around her, the faint noise of people talking, the bleeping sound and her own breathing the only constant accompanying her.

A few hours or maybe days later, she found that her body started to feel again, reacting to her clouded brain's commands slowly. The feeling that something was wrong with her returned with full force and this time, she gave in to it.

The effort that it took to crack her eyes open almost sent her back into unconsciousness, yet she fought back the urge to give up and eventually succeeded. The first thing she saw was the white ceiling of her room or what she believed was her room and she flinched when the realization that she could make out details without her glasses hit her. What was going on?

Carefully, she lifted her head and her eyes scanned the room.

After she was done doing so, she knew that she was back at the hospital. She had noticed the smell of disinfectant before but thought it was her ever distraught mother's doing and that the weird noise came from her new alarm clock (again, courtesy of Mrs. Kinami). That woman was unpredictable when it came to things like that.

Karin tried to stay calm and the thought that maybe her injuries had opened again over night or something like that had happened satisfied her. There was simply no other reason.

Between the bleep-tone from her heart rate monitor, she caught an almost inaudible sigh, which startled her. Where did that come from? Was her mother already there?

This time she found the stranger while surveying her environment. It was a miracle she didn't spot him earlier; with his black clothes and hair, he stuck out like a blob of ink on a white paper. His face was hidden by his rather long hair and the collar of his jacket, so the girl couldn't be sure whether she knew this man or not. He took steady, deep breaths and was apparently asleep, so she refrained from waking him up, though the temptation was great.

As quiet as she could, she steadied herself and brought herself into a sitting position. While doing so, her bangs continued to fall into her face, obscuring her vision. She paused. Since when was her hair that dark?

Her hands went up in her hair and noted that it was a lot shorter than it used to be. A shiver crept down her spine and she held one strand of hair into her face, trembling slightly as if she was scared of what she would see.

Black. Her hair was most definitely black now.

"There must be an explanation for this. There always is" she whispered grimly and inspected her hands further. They seemed...different. The nails were shorter, the palms a little callous and they seemed less feminine.

That was when Karin actually looked down her body. Really looked at it. Her chest was flat. She knew that compared to other girls, she'd always been 'underdeveloped' in that area; now her breasts were non-existent. As were all 'feminine' curves.

This was not her body.

* * *

><p><strong>Another chapter done! :D I'm uncharacteristically productive lately...<strong>

As you can see, I love writing in Karin's POV, like writing Hinata's POV and have major troubles with Sakura's POV. I have some kind of grudge against writing from her perspective.  
>Hm, can you figure out what happened to Karin? I think it's a little obvious...<p>

**Not much to say besides that, except for THANK YOU for the reviews, favs and alerts so far and those to come (HOPEFULLY.) ^_^**


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